Following research on the high productivity of coral reefs,
ATS was developed by Walter Adey and colleagues in the
late 1970’s as an engineered simulation of the solar energy
capture and water-modifying capabilities of reef algal turfs.
ATS is a biomimicry developed to fill the need in ecosystems
modeling for efficiently simulating the stabilizing effect of low level, oceanic photosynthesis over many square miles of
ocean. Understanding the mechanisms that allow algal turfs
in the high-energy environments of coral reefs to develop
the most efficient photosynthetic system on earth, it was
possible to make the engineering adaptations that provide
that photosynthesis in the controllable environment called
the Algal Turf Scrubber. Given the high light, turbulence and
flow, as well as the moderate harvest rate of an algal turf
scrubber, algal turf communities can be self-organized from
the species available in most aquatic environments.

Walter Adey and Karen Loveland

During the 1980’s and ‘90’s, ATS units were used to control a wide variety of ecosystem models
(mesocosms and microcosms) developed as research and exhibit tools at the Smithsonian
Institution. These model ecosystems ranged from swamp/marsh units, such as the Florida
Everglades to rocky shores and numerous coral reefs. Extensive monitoring in coral reef
microcosms have shown coral and whole reef calcification rates and biodiversity density equal to
that in prolific wild systems. This research has been widely published in the scientific literature.
ATS systems integral with closed or open ecosystem models can establish nutrient, oxygen and
pH concentrations and patterns at those of pristine wild ecosystems.

In 1985, Walter and Karen Adey established Ecological Systems Technology (Estech, Inc.) for
R & D on commercial, large scale applications. The first scale up of ATS for landscape, non-point
treatment was in the Florida Everglades in 1991; a 50-foot long flo-way developed phosphorus
removal rates up to several hundred times greater than managed marsh systems. Productivity
rates on this unit were ten times that of quality agriculture. That research led to additional patents
for water quality control at large scale being added to the core ATS process patent awarded in
1983. In 1993, investor Don Panoz brought additional financial resources to the scale-up effort,
and the R&D firm Aquatic BioEnhancement Systems (ABES) was formed; this led to pilot plants
of ATS for aquaculture and municipal tertiary water treatment. The rights for commercial aquarium
use of ATS are held by Ecological Systems Technology, L.P. of Reedville, Virginia. The rights for
wastewater, aquaculture and algal biomass production are now exclusively licensed to HydroMentia, Inc.
of Ocala, Florida.

High levels of ATS photosynthetic efficiency with a low cost of capital construction, operation and
maintenance were demonstrated by HydroMentia in a South Florida Water Management District
monitored pilot plant in 2003 (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FE576); this led to the
first permanent ATS
facility for cleaning Lake Okeechobee and a second unit near the head of the Indian River on the Florida East Coast. ATS facilities possess the capability of ameliorating global
scale water and atmosphere pollution, while capturing and storing solar energy at efficiencies
above that of similarly industrialized technologies. A whole river clean-up system has been
designed by HydroMentia for the Suwannee River in Florida.